National Republican., 1887-05-02

wnllc tneTe IL II nina ike u lOlQSt0ue'
which, plunged amid steel and brass filings,
gathers up the steel aud repels the brass. But
II is generally Just the opposite. ifyon attempt
to 60 through hedge OF burrs to get
blaekberries You cannot afford to read a bad
book, however good you are. You say: THE
influence is insignificant" tell you that the
iockjaw. Alasl il through curiosity, as many
do, you pry into an evil book, your curiosity Is
as dangerous as that of the man who would
take q torch into gunpowder mill merely to
a menagerieIin New York a man put his arm
The animals hide looked SO sleek aud bright
once. The monster seized him him, and he drew "
forth a hand torn and mangled and bleeding.
Q touch not evil, even with the faintest stroke!
Though II may be glossy and beautiful. touch
bleeding under the clutch Of the black leopard.
"But,,' you say, show, can find out whether
@ book is good or bad without reading itY'
There is always something suspicious about a
bad book. i never knew an eXceptinn-some.
thing suspicious in the index or style ofillus-
tration. This venomous reptile almost always
Again, charge You YOU to stand off from all
those books which corrupt the imagination
and inilame the passions. do not refer now
to that Kind Of book which the villain has
out, and then, looking both ways to see that
there is no policeman around the block, offers
the book to your son on his way home. do
not speak Of that kind of literature, but that
which evades the law and comes out in pol
ished style, and with acute plot sounds the
tocsin that rouses up all the baser passions OF
the soul. To-day, under the nostrlls Of this tlhiis
eratnre, enough to poison allthe fountains OF
public virtue, and smite your sons and daugh-
ters as with the wing of a destroying angel,
blew the trumpet and rallied the forces of
righteousness, all armed to the teeth, IN this
great battle against depraved literature.
ppoIogetic of crime. 1t is a sad thing that
some Of the best and most beautiful book
bindery, and some Of the finest rhetoric have
been brought to make sin attractive. Vice is
horrible thing anyhow. /. is born In shame,
and II dies bowling in the darkness. In this
world 1t Is scourged with whip of scorpions.
but aiterward the thunsers, OF Gods wrath
with ruin aud woe. When you come to paint
carnality. do not paint II as looking from be-
hind embroidered curtains, or through lattice
OF royal seraglio, but as writhing in the
Cursed be the books that try to make impur.
ity decent, and crime attractive, and hypoc-
risy noble Cursed be the books that swarm
with libertines and desSeradoes,. who m AXE
the brain OF the young people whirl with vii
liany Ye authors who write them, ye pub
lisheIs who print them. ye booksellers who
by an aroused community, then, at last by the
hail of Divine vengeance, which shall sweep
to the lowest pit Of perdition all ye mnrdarsrs
!Gfsonls. ltell YOU though you may escape,
at last last under under ihe iSs hooi hii Of et1ni eteTnpi
calamities, and you will be chained TO the
rock, and you will have the vulturesof despair
clawing at your soul, and those whom You have
destroyed will come around to torment you,
and TO pour hotter Goals OF fury upon yonr
head, and rejoice eternally in the, outcry OF
your pain and the howl of your damuatlon.
SGod shall wound the hairy scalp OF him that
goetn on In his tTespassea'
The clock strikes midnight. A fair form
bends over romance. The eyes flash fire,
ally the color dashes to the check, and then
dies out. Tho hands tremble as though u
guardian spirit ware trying to shake the
sse laughs 1'x With sS yoes M drOps s
nj its own sound. The sweat OF her brow Is
hespray dashed up from the river of death.
The CLOCK strikes -four" and the rosy dawn
upon the pale form that looks like detained
speeter OF the night. Soon in a maihousc she
will mistake her ringlets for curling serp}n
and thrust her white hand through the bars Oi
the prison, and smlte her head, rubbing II
back as though to push the scalp f.on the
skull; shrieklng; my brain! my bralnl' q
stand on from that Why win you 60 sound
bpoys when there is such a vast ocean In
which you may voyage, all sails setl
There Is one other thing shall say this
to hear II or not. That Is, that | consider the
lasclvious pictorial literature of the day as
most tremendous for ruin. There IL no one
who can like good picture better than do.
The quickest and most condensed way OF TN.
pressing the public mind is by picture. What
the painter does by his brush for a tew favor
ties, the engraver does by his knife for the
million. What the author accOmplishes by
fifty pages, the artist does bya flash. The
best part OF a painting that costs $4,000
yOu may buy for 10 cents Fine paintings be-
long to the aristo1racY OF art EngrivingI
belong TO the democracy of art. You do well
10 gather good pictures in your homes. Spread
is past and the evening circle Is gathered.